J-19 and counting .....

Today May 12 – the car has left on the container ship to Buenos Aires …. at least I hope it has …. I mean I hope its left … and to Buenos Aires!

Having already spent some time in Africa, we’re used to the hassle of dealing with foreign administrations (the secret of success is infinite patience and a big smile). It seems the customs people in Buenos Aires are no exception to the rule. First they didn’t like us packing all our “personal effects” in the car; they asked us to bring them as hand luggage! …. However, when I explained that “personal effects” means all the stuff we need for surviving 14 months abroad in a 4x4 ….. and that it weighs approximately 600Kg! (imagine trying to get that lot through a Ryanair check-in!!) … and that it was too late anyway as it was already packed in the car … they agreed it would be OK …… on condition that I supplied them with a list showing every single item.
Fortunately I had already made the list for myself, because it’s the only way I’ll ever be able to know where to find anything (my memory never was very good)! However, when I sent it to them, they insisted that I translate it into Spanish. Not an unreasonable request I suppose …. except that my Spanish is limited to a few phrases learned from Fawlty Towers! So I used an online translator on the internet. You really should try it sometime … the results can be quite hilarious. For example it translated:
- “cooking utensils” as “utensils that are being cooked”
- “ sleeping bag liner” as “transatlantic sleeping bag” (yes, you need to think about that one a bit) …. “liner” was interpreted as “transatlantic cruise liner” … (“So tell me, how did you travel to Buenos Aires? By plane?” ….. “No, by sleeping bag!”)
- and “cool trousers” (meaning cool-weather trousers) was translated as “cool (really with it man!) trousers” …. and believe me … that is the LAST adjective you could use to describe MY trousers …. I still have a pair of purple bell-bottomed jeans!

I think the customs guys in BA are going to have a good laugh!

On a different note … we’re saying “Au revoir” to lots of people now … including our two daughters, their husbands, and a grandson … and hundreds of friends. Not easy …. but we’ll be keeping in touch if I can just figure out how to use the satellite phone!